Blossom v. Barrett
Blossom v. Barrett
Opinion of the Court
This action was brought to recover damages of the defendant, for fraudulently inducing the plaintiff to marry the defendant, and to cohabit with him, he having another wife living, from whom he was not lawfully divorced, and the defendant being, at the time, incapacitated to marry any one, while his prior wife was living. The cause was tried at the Schuyler circuit, and the plaintiff recovered a verdict of $9000. There was also a count in the complaint for assault and battery.
The case was abundantly proved upon the evidence. There was no pretence but that the defendant was married to Cornelia Anderson, some twenty years ago, and that she procured a divorce from him, for his adultery, and which decree prohibited him from marrying again, during the lifetime of the said Cornelia. It was proved upon the trial, by parol evidence, without objection, that the defendant was married to one Harriet Bandall also, before .his marriage to the plaintiff, and that she also had procured a divorce from him, upon the ground that such marriage was illegal and void, the said defendant being incapacitated to contract marriage while his former wife was living.
*When the record of this second decree of divorce was offered in evidence, the defendant objected to it, on the ground, that it was already proved by parol, and that the fact attempted to be proved is not denied in the pleading. Neither of these objections are tenable, and no detriment could result to the defendant from this evidence, as his answer fully admits this decree of divorce. If there was a valid objection to this decree, the'defendant waived it, by taking untenable grounds of objection. (Dunham v. Simmons, 3 Hill 609.)
At the close of the trial, the plaintiff’s counsel commenced to read the complaint in this action for divorce, in which the said Harriett Bandall was plaintiff, and
The defendant moved to nonsuit the. plaintiff, on the ground, that the relation of husband and wife not being dissolved,, this action for damages cannot be maintained; and also, upon the ground, that the evidence shows that there was such gross negligence on the part of the plaintiff in entering into this marriage relation with the defendant, that the law will afford her no remedy in the case; which motion was denied, and the defendant excepted. The statute declares this marriage with the plaintiff absolutely void (2 R. S. 139, § 4), and there is no objection to the plaintiff’s maintaining this action, because of the marriage relation entered into between them. The plaintiff had a right to rely on the *positive and repeated statements of the defendant, that he was lawfully divorced from his former wives, and was not required to investigate the records in the city of New York, three hundred miles away. (Mead v. Bunn, 32 N. Y. 275.)
At the close of the trial the defendant insisted that the plaintiff was bound to elect, whether to go for the damages upon the fraud in the contract, or for the assault and battery; that both cannot be joined in one
The judge at circuit properly overruled the defendant’s application to compel the plaintiff to elect, for which cause of action he claims to recover, and it is not important to inquire, whether he assigned a wrong reason for his ruling or not. As the case stood upon the pleadings, the plaintiff had a right to insist upon a recovery upon both, and the judge should so have charged the jury. The plaintiff, probably, was more prejudiced by this ruling, in allowing the jury to take into consideration the ill-treatment proved upon the trial, in aggravation of the damages for the main cause of action only, than was the defendant. I am inclined to think, however, that it was legitimate for the jury to consider this ill-treatment, in connection with the fraudulent marriage, cohabitation, and the personal control which that relation gave the defendant over the plaintiff, she innocently believing that the defendant was her lawful husband. It is manifest, from the ruling of the judge upon the trial, and his charge to the jury, that the plaintiff was not permitted to '■"recover damages for the independent cause of action for assault and battery, and, consequently, no injury can have resulted to the defendant, in conse
The objections taken by the defendant to the evidence given by the plaintiff and her witnesses, to prove that the defendant assaulted and beat her, were properly-overruled, for the same reason. She was entitled, under the pleadings, to give this evidence, and make it the basis of a claim for damages before the jury. There were many objections taken to the admission of evidence offered by the plaintiff upon the trial, the rulings upon which are complained of here. The most of these are frivolous. We will consider some of the most important.
The question put by the defendant’s counsel to Mrs. Howell, was properly excluded. It was, at any rate, discretionary with the court whether to permit it or not. (32 N. Y. 127.) All of the evidence offered to contradict Mrs. Howell, by showing that she had made statements different from what she testified on her cross-examination, by defendant’s counsel, was properly excluded, as all the matters inquired of were collateral to the issue in the cause, and the defendants must take her answers.
The question put to the defendant, on his cross-examination, to wit: “ Did you tell Harriet Randall that you were worth $70,000?” was properly allowed, as legitimate cross-examination. The plaintiff had testified, on his direct examination, that he was only worth about $17,000, and it was competent for the plaintiff, on cross-examination, to show that this was not so, and that he was really worth a good deal more. It was pertinent cross-examination, upon the very subject on which the defendant had been examined in his own behalf. The plaintiff had given evidence by witnesses, before, tending to show that the defendant was worth much more than this. It is proper to say, that this evidence was given without objection ; and the defend
I do not think that any error was committed in allowing Mrs. Van Dusen, Mrs. Sprowls and Mrs. Clark, to give the evidence which they did, tending to contradict Mrs. Boerum. She did not answer the questions put to her; she certainly equivocated and qualified her answers, and negatived some; and actually gave such a coloring to her answers, that it can hardly be claimed,
Judgment affirmed.
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